RIYADH: China is still undecided about imposing an anti-dumping charge on Saudi petrochemical exports, its embassy in Riyadh said on Sunday, after Saudi exporters called for retaliatory duties on Chinese exports.

"The judgement is preliminary" and a punitive tariff has not been levied on Saudi methanol and butanediol (BDO) exports, embassy spokesman Yuan Yuan told AFP.

"We take great consideration of Saudi concerns," he said, adding that the two countries' trade ministries were discussing the issue "at high levels."

Saudi petrochemical producers said on Saturday they would seek duties on industrial imports from China after Beijing began a dumping probe into petrochemical imports from Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Indonesia and New Zealand.

Abdulrahman al-Zamil, chairman of the Council of Saudi Chambers, said China had no grounds to pursue the dumping investigation into methanol and BDO exports that it launched in late June.

"We do not subsidise our exporters" of petrochemicals, he told a news conference.

He also warned that the group would oppose a free trade agreement between the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council and China if the anti-dumping duty is charged.

Yuan Yuan said that either a punitive tariff or a "guarantee fund" charge of "less than five percent" of the goods' value could be levied, but that "we are still working on this."

"The anti-dumping investigation is very complex and will take a long time," he said.

"We will consider the Saudi view."

The dispute has cast a cloud over booming Saudi-Chinese trade which hit 41.8 billion dollars last year, according to Chinese figures.

Methanol and BDO make up between 10 and 15 percent of Saudi Arabia's two billion dollars in annual non-oil exports to China, which are largely petrochemicals. - AFP/de